Transfer of Dictatorship
“State Building” in Russia’s “People’s Republics”
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
The Donbas region has disappeared from public view. However, not only are skir-mishes are a daily occurrence in the transition zone between the Ukrainian and separatist-controlled areas. Also in the interior of the two “People’s Republics” a dynamic process is unfolding. While at the end of 2014, they were still anarchic, gang-ruled territories, today, they have become dictatorships with a high concentration of political and economic power. The decisive factor in this state building, which is being driven forward with an extreme degree of savagery, is Russia. Only those who are in favour with Moscow and who receive Russian resources are in a position to eliminate their opponents and set themselves at the top of the state structure.
(Osteuropa 3-4/2017, pp. 41–55)